IRIN
PAKISTAN: Quake relief all but impossible at higher altitudes
3 January 2006


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

ANKARA, 3 January (IRIN) - Bad weather continues to hamper relief 
efforts in quake-affected Pakistan, particularly at higher altitudes, 
where hundreds of thousands of people still live.

"We have already reached the vast majority of people living in this 
area, however, lack of access makes it impossible for us to do more," 
Larry Hollingworth, deputy humanitarian coordinator for the United 
Nations, said from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday, 
referring to the estimated 400,000 people living above altitudes of 
1,524 metres.

But this development was largely expected, he stressed.

"We have always been of the opinion that once winter set in, there's not 
much more than we can do other than assess, monitor and react to 
whatever problems that may present themselves," Hollingworth said, 
emphasising, however, they would continue to try reaching those areas 
once access became available.

His comments follow a recent barrage of heavy snows and rains to the 
area starting on New Year's Eve, making access to the mountainous area 
all but impossible in some places.

More than 80,000 people were killed on 8 October when the 7.6 magnitude 
quake ripped through Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, rendering over 3.5 million people 
homeless.

Yet with the arrival of the much-anticipated harsh Himalayan winter, the 
challenge of reaching those in need had significantly increased. 
According to the UN, some key roads used for distributing much-needed 
relief items had been blocked or rendered dangerous due to landslides, 
while relief helicopter flights had been suspended due to bad weather.

As a result, relief efforts were now focused on those areas at lower 
altitudes where access was still permitted and many survivors lived in 
tents in either spontaneous or planned camps, particularly vulnerable to 
heavy snow and rains.

Indeed, media reports suggest that many tents in the quake-affected area 
were incapable of withstanding winter conditions and had either 
collapsed or become saturated with water over recent days.

"You hardly find a proper winterised tent around and these tents that we 
have got offer little protection against rain and cold," Iftikhar Ahmed, 
a labourer who lost his home in Muzaffarabad, capital of 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, told news agency AFP.

In northern Pakistani-administered Kashmir, bad weather had seen relief 
operations suspended since Saturday and meteorologists were now warning 
that the bad weather could go on for days, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of thousands of quake survivors were living in tent camps 
across the region, while many others were in makeshift tents or shacks 
next to their devastated homes, the report added.

"Everything is wet," Shakina, a weeping woman in a tent camp near 
Muzaffarabad was quoted by Reuters as saying. "This is very difficult 
for me and my children. We can't survive in this tent."

But Hollingworth downplayed the number of tents adversely affected by 
the weather by saying: "the weight of the rain and the weight of the 
snow proved too much for some of the tents."

He conceded, however, in some of the camps that were located on land 
that absorbed the rain, the bases of the tents had become particularly 
wet.

"There are some tents that are damp; there are some tents that are wet. 
In all locations I think so far, we've had to relocate some people, but 
only small numbers," he said.

"We've learned with this land it's going to be hard to keep the interior 
of these tents dry," the UN official said, noting the majority of tents 
out there had not been winterised. "We've tried to winterise most of 
them," he said. "Most of the tents proved waterproof, but given the 
intensity of the rains, there had been water logging."


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